Our times: Civil War's Battle of Shiloh had Louisiana generals

The Battle of Shiloh, fought in Tennessee 150 years ago this month, less than a month before the fall of New Orleans, was at the time the bloodiest confrontation of the Civil War. Military leaders with Louisiana roots served on both sides.

Confederate Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard, a native of St. Bernard Parish, ordered waves of attacks after commanding Gen. Albert Johnston was killed. Gen. Leonidas Polk, the first Episcopal bishop of Louisiana and nicknamed “the Fighting Bishop,” led four charges.

On the Union side, Gen. William Sherman, the first superintendent of the institution that became LSU, directed counterattacks despite being wounded and having three horses shot out from under him.

The Picayune printed battle dispatches written by Gen. Beauregard. Confederate maps of the battlefield were drawn by Leon Fremaux, who later laid out the city of Slidell.

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Combined, about 24,000 men were wounded, captured or killed in the Battle of Shiloh. Gen. Leonidas Polk, who had helped found the University of the South at Sewanee, Tenn., was killed in action near Atlanta in 1864 and buried at Christ Church Cathedral in New Orleans. Fort Polk is named for him.

In New Orleans, the battle was initially reported as a rebel victory, but with casualties mounting, Beauregard retreated on the second day of fighting.